Assuming (and I am assuming) that the film remains in the conversation, Kris and I will be at loggerheads all season over “Winter’s Bone” — I am a fan, he is emphatically not. What we do agree on, however, is that the film’s 19-year-old star, Jennifer Lawrence, is the real deal.
Actually, we agreed on this point a year ago, when Lawrence emerged as the standout of a strong ensemble in Guillermo Arriaga’s “The Burning Plain.” The film went largely unseen, but those who did get round to it were consequently less surprised than everyone else by the actress’s remarkable, film-carrying turn in this year’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize champ.
Back in February, in a published conversation with The Film Experience’s Nathaniel Rogers, I unwisely put my neck on the block by predicting a 2010 Best Actress Oscar nomination for Lawrence — and while the market for female Oscar contenders in bleak indies is already getting crowded, what with Lesley Manville and Michelle Williams in the mix, I’m sticking by that still-premature call. As I wrote to Nathaniel then: “[I]t’s such a mammoth performance, plus she’s young and hot.”
We all know that’s a winning combination. And while the mammothness of the performance will become common knowledge when the film bows on June 11, the youthful hotness is there for everyone to see in Esquire’s neatly timed “next-big-thing” feature on Lawrence. In it, she obligingly poses for a swimwear shoot that will no doubt inspire assorted regrettable puns on the title “Winter’s Bone” in some corners of the internet.
You can already see a “yes, that’s really her” campaign angle clicking into gear. As with Hilary Swank circa “Boys Don’t Cry” or Charlize Theron circa “Monster,” the contrast between this kind of high-glam publicity and Lawrence’s dowdy onscreen appearance in the film couldn’t be more pronounced. It’d be a stretch to say the performance is a feat of awards-friendly “uglying-up” — Lawrence is dressed-down, not unattractive, in the film — but the Esquire profile complies with passages like this:
It’s her movie, no question — she’s in every single frame — but she almost wasn’t in it at all. The producers initially rejected her because she was too attractive. Director Debra Granik (Down to the Bone) was savvy enough to cover up her pretty lead with a wool cap pressed low on her head for much of the movie. But Lawrence’s role demanded a lot more than some uglying-up. She handles her character with a balance of rural resignation and girlish fear, and she never loses her grip. It’s the kind of place-specific performance Daniel Day-Lewis would spend a year cooking meth in the mountains to get just right.
Comments
39 responses to “Jennifer Lawrence would like to remind you she’s hot”
I’ll bite – So are we going to get an he’s hot article for all the girls and boys and who like boys then? Other wise that is so unfair!
PS to clairfy that she be ‘girls who like boys’ also kudos on the article as it so justifys the posting of the video. It really does!
Nel: We hear you. I’m afraid this year hasn’t presented too many heavyweight performances by male teen heartthrobs with accompanying half-naked magazine spreads, but as soon as one comes through, we’ll oblige.
my interest in this film just went up. no pun intended I swear!
See? It’s working.
Saw the film last week. I’m with Guy, she’s got Oscar nod written all over her this year. It’ll be interesting to see what the studio does with marketing campaign. Definitely a good idea to focus on her looks, and not the dourness of the film– which I quite like mind you. Actually, I’m just as enthusiastic about John Hawkes’ supporting turn. I’m afraid the film would really need to catch fire for him to get swept up in the conversation though.
“heavy weight performances by male teen hearthrobs”, you say?
Now isn’t Nowhere Boy opening in the US this year? Now if memory serves me me right Aaron Johnson won a slew of nominations (okay I exaggerate) for his performance. Therefore Guy, I look forward to your tasteful article in regards to how Aaron Johnson portrayed the life of a geeky teenage scouser so well but in life can scrub up so well.
I saw (and reviewed) “Nowhere Boy” in October. I wasn’t entirely sold on Johnson then, but now “Kick-Ass” and “Chatroom” have placed him squarely in my bad books … try again!
here’s to everyone who thought she put on way too many clothes in those freezing ozark mountains LOL!
damn, she’s hot! she’s gonna go a long way with both her talent and great looks:)
What’s strange is that while there are more roles for young male actors, there has been a lot more Award-nominated roles for young actresses. Off the top of my head, the following 20-something women have been nominated by the all-mighty Academy.
Carey Mulligan, Gabby Sidibe, Abbie Cornish, Anna Kendrick, Saoirse Ronan, Ellen Page, Abigail Breslin, Natalie Portman, Keira Knightley, Michelle Williams…
Compare that to their male counterparts
Joseph Gordon Levitt, Shia LaBeouf, Anton Yelchin, Jim Sturgess, Channing Tatum, Aaron Johnson, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Pine
Only Gosling and Gyllenhaal have been nominated. Verry interesting.
I forgot to add Anne Hathaway to the list.
snowballa has a point because I can’t think of anyone who is male and teenage, who has put in or id due to put in a heavy weight performance this year after Aaron Johnson!
You win this one Guy!!
Abbie Cornish was not nominated.
I think Gosling shoul do a Calvin Klein underwear video. I will think less of him but I don’t care. :p
I haven’t seen the film yet, but hopefully will get the chance soon. Still, I believe Lawrence has a solid shot for a nomination this year. I’ve also been predicting it since Sundance. At this early stage; Bening, Hathaway, Manville and Lawrence look like safe bets to me. The fifth can be Moore (if Focus decides to push both ladies as lead… which seems unlikely), Swank or Abbass (for Miral, but we’ll have to wait until Venice to hear about that).
Declaring four out of five nominees “safe bets” in, um, May is the very opposite of safe, Ali.
;)
:D
well, of course, that’s true. this is just how I look at the race at this very very early stage. god knows what I will say in three months time! :))
Perhaps showing that the Academy is ruled by old men:
One under-30 man won Best Actor, and he was 3 weeks away from his 30th; the 10th-youngest Best Actress winner was almost halfway through her 27th year.
She can flash her legs as much as she wants and I still won’t see Winter’s Bone.
@chard hartigan: ditto. any actress who appears on maxim automatically gets a pity glance from me. it’s so…typical.
Why won’t you see Winter’s Bone, Chad?
Trailer looked terrible.
for one chard, its not maxim its esquire and she is probably the most talented actress we have seen in a long time. she just happens to be hot.
For what it’s worth, “Winter’s Bone” is the best film of the year so far.
agreed movieman. went without expectation to see Winters Bone at Sundance and was absolutely blown away. As was the rest of the audience. Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes are simply amazing. Its hard to believe someone Jennifer’s age can carry a movie like that. She has incredible screen presence and is captivating.
@ Chad: And the trailer for The Matrix Reloaded was awesome, what’s your point?
as far as i am concerned, only hot chicks should be allowed to win oscars. lets stop being PC about these things. Rememeber when JAne Fonda was young and winning, we need more of that.
“we need more of that”
What with Penelope Cruz, Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, Marion Cotillard, etc, all winning Oscars in the last decade, I’d say you haven’t exactly been deprived.
yeahh, I didnt like this at all. I dont get why talent actresses try the sex pot routine. It only puts them away from the female audiences. I am pretty sure she can get fame and media coverage without showing her crotch to everybody. Didint she gave one of the best performances this year?
Scarlet Jonhanson tried this route and it failed miserable. In fact she now reduce her career to playing the sex female fatal, when in 2003 we thought she would have a much more interesting career.
@ Linaf – Oh man what happened to Scarlett Johansson, she was so amazing in Lost In Translation and the a Girl with a Pearl and then it seems she got bored. I will go against the grain and I say that I think that Scarlett Johannson is one of the most talented actors out their period, she just needs better roles and not just the lazy femme fatal roles. For example she so could have played Rebecca Hall’s role in Vicky Christina, Barcelona.
@ Nel, I dont know. after Lost inT I thought she was gonna be one of our finest atresses and than the media started to call her a sex symbol and that was IT.
Sex bombshell in The Black Dhalia, bombshell in The Spirit (ugh), He is not that Into you (another UGH), Match Point, Vicky Barcelona, Iron Man 2.
I have no interest in her anymore. Even Keira Knightley made much better career moves.
Has anybody seen Johansson on stage in A View From the Bridge? A Tony nomination may or may not mean all that much, but I’ve heard nothing but good reports.
Was the trailer for The Matrix Reloaded awesome? Anyway, what else do I have to go on besides the trailer? I don’t listen to any critics and the few friends who have seen it said it was meh at best.
Nothing to add here. Just that I wish that photo shoot had about 30 or 40 more pics.
She`s so much hotter than the no-actress cast to replace Mega Fox in Trannies 3. Not saying JL should be in those movie, just that there`s a real actress out there that`s way hotter than Fox Two.
Don’t forget about Robin Wright Penn for “The Conspirator”. Supposedly she is wonderful in her role.
Funny how I said that “Winter’s Bone” was the best film of 2010, and then exactly one week later I saw “I Am Love,” which is the best film I’ve seen in the past few years.
I’m afraid I truly do not get “I Am Love.”
You’re not readily exposed to Hollywood hypocrisy, though, Guy. In a year that has been disappointing to those with only so much exposure, “I Am Love” reaffirmed my faith that sometimes a cinematic miracle can happen. For me, it’s an absolute masterpiece, and Tilda Swinton’s performance is the year’s best, bar none. Absolutely stunning. It’ll be hard to top for me.
[…] anchored by a phenomenal breakout performance by 19-year-old Jennifer Lawrence – who is using ALL of her talents to make sure she gets noticed. As you might imagine, I have rather mixed feelings […]